Dataset Information

Revealing the prehistoric settlement of Australia by Y chromosome and mtDNA analysis.

ABSTRACT: Published and new samples of Aboriginal Australians and Melanesians were analyzed for mtDNA (n=172) and Y variation (n=522), and the resulting profiles were compared with the branches known so far within the global mtDNA and the Y chromosome tree. (i) All Australian lineages are confirmed to fall within the mitochondrial founder branches M and N and the Y chromosomal founders C and F, which are associated with the exodus of modern humans from Africa approximately 50-70,000 years ago. The analysis reveals no evidence for any archaic maternal or paternal lineages in Australians, despite some suggestively robust features in the Australian fossil record, thus weakening the argument for continuity with any earlier Homo erectus populations in Southeast Asia. (ii) The tree of complete mtDNA sequences shows that Aboriginal Australians are most closely related to the autochthonous populations of New Guinea/Melanesia, indicating that prehistoric Australia and New Guinea were occupied initially by one and the same Palaeolithic colonization event approximately 50,000 years ago, in agreement with current archaeological evidence. (iii) The deep mtDNA and Y chromosomal branching patterns between Australia and most other populations around the Indian Ocean point to a considerable isolation after the initial arrival. (iv) We detect only minor secondary gene flow into Australia, and this could have taken place before the land bridge between Australia and New Guinea was submerged approximately 8,000 years ago, thus calling into question that certain significant developments in later Australian prehistory (the emergence of a backed-blade lithic industry, and the linguistic dichotomy) were externally motivated.

SUBMITTER: Hudjashov G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1885570 | biostudies-literature | 2007 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Revealing the prehistoric settlement of Australia by Y chromosome and mtDNA analysis.

Hudjashov Georgi G Kivisild Toomas T Underhill Peter A PA Endicott Phillip P Sanchez Juan J JJ Lin Alice A AA Shen Peidong P Oefner Peter P Renfrew Colin C Villems Richard R Forster Peter P

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20070511 21

Published and new samples of Aboriginal Australians and Melanesians were analyzed for mtDNA (n=172) and Y variation (n=522), and the resulting profiles were compared with the branches known so far within the global mtDNA and the Y chromosome tree. (i) All Australian lineages are confirmed to fall within the mitochondrial founder branches M and N and the Y chromosomal founders C and F, which are associated with the exodus of modern humans from Africa approximately 50-70,000 years ago. The analysi ...[more]

PMID: 17496137

Similar Datasets

Project description:The rarity of human remains makes it difficult to apprehend the first settlements in Corsica. It is admitted that initial colonization could have occurred during the Mesolithic period when glaciations would have shortened the open water travel distance from the continent. Mesolithic sites in Corsica show relatively short and irregular occupation, and suggest discontinuous settling of very mobile groups probably traveling by boat. Previous genetic studies on Corsican populations showed internal differentiation and a relatively poor genetic relationship with continental populations, despite intense historical contacts, however local Mesolithic-based genetic inheritance has never been properly estimated. The aim of this study was to explore the Corsican genetic profile of Y-chromosomes in order to trace the genetic signatures back to the first migrations to Corsica. This study included 321 samples from men throughout Corsica; samples from Provence and Tuscany were added to the cohort. All samples were typed for 92 Y-SNPs, and Y-STRs were also analyzed. Results revealed highly differentiated haplogroup patterns among Corsican populations. Haplogroup G had the highest frequency in Corsica, mostly displaying a unique Y-STR profile. When compared with Provence and Tuscany, Corsican populations displayed limited genetic proximity. Corsican populations present a remarkable Y-chromosome genetic mixture. Although the Corsican Y-chromosome profile shows similarities with both Provence and to a lesser extent Tuscany, it mainly displays its own specificity. This study confirms the high level of genetic diversity in Corsican populations and backs genetic contributions from prehistoric migrations associated with the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Metal Age eras, rather than from historical movements to Corsica, respectively attested by frequencies and TMRCA of haplogroups G2a-L91 and G2a-P15, J2a-M241 and J2-DYS445 = 6, R1b-U152 and R1b-U106. These results suggest that marine routes to reach the Corsican coast in many different points may have led to such a genetic heterogeneity.

Project description:BACKGROUND:The evolutionary relationships of closely related species have long been of interest to biologists since these species experienced different evolutionary processes in a relatively short period of time. Comparison of phylogenies inferred from DNA sequences with differing inheritance patterns, such as mitochondrial, autosomal, and X and Y chromosomal loci, can provide more comprehensive inferences of the evolutionary histories of species. Gibbons, especially the genus Hylobates, are particularly intriguing as they consist of multiple closely related species which emerged rapidly and live in close geographic proximity. Our current understanding of relationships among Hylobates species is largely based on data from the maternally-inherited mitochondrial DNAs (mtDNAs). RESULTS:To infer the paternal histories of gibbon taxa, we sequenced multiple Y chromosomal loci from 26 gibbons representing 10 species. As expected, we find levels of sequence variation some five times lower than observed for the mitochondrial genome (mtgenome). Although our Y chromosome phylogenetic tree shows relatively low resolution compared to the mtgenome tree, our results are consistent with the monophyly of gibbon genera suggested by the mtgenome tree. In a comparison of the molecular dating of divergences and on the branching patterns of phylogeny trees between mtgenome and Y chromosome data, we found: 1) the inferred divergence estimates were more recent for the Y chromosome than for the mtgenome, 2) the species H. lar and H. pileatus are monophyletic in the mtgenome phylogeny, respectively, but a H. pileatus individual falls into the H. lar Y chromosome clade. CONCLUSIONS:Based on the ~6.4 kb of Y chromosomal DNA sequence data generated for each of the 26 individuals in this study, we provide molecular inferences on gibbon and particularly on Hylobates evolution complementary to those from mtDNA data. Overall, our results illustrate the utility of comparative studies of loci with different inheritance patterns for investigating potential sex specific processes on the evolutionary histories of closely related taxa, and emphasize the need for further sampling of gibbons of known provenance.

Dataset Information

Revealing the prehistoric settlement of Australia by Y chromosome and mtDNA analysis.

Publications

Revealing the prehistoric settlement of Australia by Y chromosome and mtDNA analysis.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets